He gets his own day? Really?
Okay, so apparently it is National Neil Diamond Day. I heard this on the radio today and thought it was a joke, but a quick search on Google shows that its not. Really, he get’s his own day?
Don’t get me wrong, I like Neil Diamond’s music. No, I am not joking, I really do like it the music he performs and the music that he has written for others. But considering that there are only 365 1/4 days in the year, and there have been many more musicians than that, why does he get a day?
This has got me wondering what other musicians have their own day. Does one have to perform the bulk of your work in a certain set of genres? Does one have to perform and write for others? Does one have to sell a certain number of albums?
Most importantly, who decides this? Does the RIAA vote on this, is there a site where music fans vote, or do you just have to pay a lot of money to get a day named after you? Finally, on a related note, how is one supposed to celebrate National Neil Diamond Day?
I don’t know how that can be! Maybe it’s a local thing? Are there any connections to where you live (for example… he played there 25 times in one summer). That’s probably not the case, but if we’re giving musicians holidays, I declare a Grant-Lee Phillips holiday. The whole day off plus pay. …Or am I alone on this one?
Speaking of Neil Diamond, he lives in Wickenburg, Arizona. Honestly. Not even joking (all right, so it probably isn’t Neil Diamond in hiding, but he is an amazing reproduction).
As far as I know, there are no connections locally and a search of the Internet that day turned up several articles proclaiming it to by “National Neil Diamond” day. I have no idea who decided this though.
I wonder how many other musicians have unintentional look-a-likes. Elvis has so many intentional look-a-likes that no one blinks when they see him. But someone who genuinely looks like are less imitated person such as Neil Diamond could easily cause double-takes.
[…] response to my post on Neil Diamond a couple of weeks ago, Vaivata mentioned that someone who looks exactly like Neil Diamond lives in […]